how to run this Fortran to C++ FABLE conversion tool on Windows

[Lynn McGuire]

I cannot figure out how to run this Fortran to C++ FABLE conversion tool
on Windows. They made a Windows port back in 2015 but I have not been
able to find the files so far. I really hoping that I do not have to
build a linux box.
https://github.com/cctbx/cctbx_project/tree/master/fable

The problem is that the FABLE tool is actually part of another software
package and it is written in Python. It seems that some of the
initialization files are missing. Does anyone here have experience with
FABLE on Windows ?

Thanks,
Lynn

[Lynn McGuire]

Sorry, I forgot to mention the original site for FABLE:
https://cci.lbl.gov/fable/
and
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1256083
and
https://scfbm.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1751-0473-7-5

Thanks,
Lynn

[Christian Gollwitzer]

Am 16.09.22 um 06:29 schrieb Lynn McGuire:

> I cannot figure out how to run this Fortran to C++ FABLE conversion tool
> on Windows.  They made a Windows port back in 2015 but I have not been
> able to find the files so far.  I really hoping that I do not have to
> build a linux box.
>    https://github.com/cctbx/cctbx_project/tree/master/fable
>

Hi Lynn,
I have no experience with this software, but I know Python I had a look
at it. I have rarely seen a more confusing build procedure, even for
Unix standards. The repository is not organized very well, and I predict
that even under Unix, you would have a lot of fun to actually build this.

The main reason seems to be that fable is kept as a part of this CCTBX
package and both the build system as well as the main Python code uses
facilities from the bigger CCTBX package; therefore I doubt that it is
easily possible to compile and run it on its own, without building CCTBX
first.

On the main page of CCTBX they say that there are builds available in
conda (the Anaconda package manager). If the license is feasible for
you, probably the easiest way will be to install Anaconda and than get
it via conda as described on the CCTBX front page. Or try to rip it off
conda-forge by starting to browse

https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/cctbx-base

Christian

[DFS]

On 9/16/2022 12:29 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

> I cannot figure out how to run this Fortran to C++ FABLE conversion tool
> on Windows.  They made a Windows port back in 2015 but I have not been
> able to find the files so far.  I really hoping that I do not have to
> build a linux box.

I found this in /fable/doc/index.txt in the cctbx source:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Windows systems (XP or higher)::

Download http://cci.lbl.gov/fable_bundles/current/fable_win_xp.exe
fable_win_xp.exe
fable_build\setpaths.bat
fable.cout --example

The ``fable.cout --example`` command is known to work with gcc 3.2 or
higher, Visual C++ 7.1 or higher, and with recent development versions
of clang++.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


or, install the Windows Subsystem for Linux, and you can run any number
of Linux distros virtually.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

[Lynn McGuire]

Thanks ! I was trying to stay away from Conda. I was a VMS / Unix
programmer back in the late 1980s and 1990s, I have forgotten much of my
Unix. I have an old 1992 Sun workstation upstairs in the office but I
doubt that it would boot.

Lynn

[Lynn McGuire]

Yes, I already tried that website which seems to be nonfunctional now.

I had not thought about the Windows Subsytem for Linux.

Thanks,
Lynn